The county commissioners voted unanimously Feb. 12 to enact a $500 fine for placing signs in the unincorporated areas they control, largely targeting the right of way along roads. Candidate signs that pop up every election are the biggest offenders, though signs advertising open houses and homebuilders are a close second.

Sharp's attorney, Tim Stoesz, filed the lawsuit alleging the ordinance violates the First Amendment. The lawsuit asks Judge William Hughes to set aside the ordinance and award Sharp legal fees.

Sharp thinks the ordinance will disadvantage lesser-known candidates, people who have little name recognition or money for TV spots and mailers.

"I believe this infringes on free political speech, and there is no more precious form of speech in this country than political free speech," said Sharp. "I think it's also a blatant effort by entrenched and established politicians to favor their candidates."

Christine Altman, president of the board of commissioners, said she had no comment because the lawsuit is pending.

Sharp is a former Carmel Council president. He is running in the Republican primary for an open seat on the Hamilton County Council against information technology professional Sheldon Barnes, Carmel Clerk-Treasurer Christine Pauley and Ken Alexander, the former director of Westfield's Grand Park Sports Campus.

Sharp said candidate signs provide name recognition, which he thinks is one of the most important factors in winning elections. He said voters who see his campaign signs may decide to find out more information about him as a candidate.

The commissioners have argued candidates can seek permission to place their signs on private property. The reality, Sharp said, is private landowners often are afraid of bucking elected officials. He said landowners have declined to put out his signs, or even removed them, for fear of retaliation from elected officials.

The commissioners say the signs clutter county roads and are a public safety hazard, because in some cases they impair sight-lines of cars. Sharp's attorney, Stoesz, does not think the county's reasoning will hold up in court as cause to stifle free speech. The case hinges on the argument that the signs are a threat to public safety.

He cited an Oregon Court of Appeals ruling from 1981 that set aside an ordinance in part because the justices believed the threat to public safety from signs in the right of way wasn't cause to prohibit free speech.

There were differences in that case. The Oregon court also ruled political signs were being singled out because the ordinance only barred political signs, and only for 60 days before an election.

Still, Stoesz thinks it's a slam dunk.

"What the commissioners did was to say we are doing this in the interests of public safety," he said, "but the case from Oregon specifically says that doesn't outweigh free speech."

Legal experts aren't so sure. David Orentlicher, a former state legislator who teaches Constitutional law at University of Nevada-Las Vegas School of Law, said legal precedent established after that Oregon case will make winning the lawsuit challenging.

He said the Supreme Court upheld a ban on signs in 1984 in Las Angeles, ruling that the ban was legal so long as all signs were prohibited. In 2015, the court struck down a sign ordinance in Arizona because it targeted political and religious signs.

He said the Supreme Court has become more protective of free speech in rulings, though, and might look differently at the Los Angeles case today. He said the court tries to restrict free speech no more than necessary. He suggested a more appropriate ordinance might limit the number or size of signs.

'"Based on where the Supreme Court has spoken so far, though, he has an uphill climb," Orentlicher said.

Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville and Westfield also have ordinances prohibiting signs in the right of way. Carmel passed its ordinance unanimously in 2006 during Sharp's first term on that council.

Sharp said he didn't pick a fight on that issue because he was trying to work within the system to help his constituents. Later, he became Mayor Jim Brainard's biggest rival, challenging him unsuccessfully in 2015.